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Guantanamo Bay homicide accusations
Guantanamo Bay murder accusations occurred after three Guantanamo prisoners, two of whom had already been cleared for release, may have been killed there and the deaths covered up. Background On 10 June 2006 three prisoners Mani al-Utaybi, Yasser al-Zahrani, and Ali Abdullah Ahmed died in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, allegedly at Camp No.Three Guantanamo detainees die in suicides, Reuters, June 10, 2006 The Pentagon informed the media that three detainees had been found dead, having "killed themselves in an apparent suicide act". U.S. President George W. Bush expressed "serious concern" about their deaths, but Rear Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said the men were dedicated terrorists and jihadists, and called the deaths "an act of asymmetric warfare committed against us." The three prisoners, two Saudis and on Yemeni, were reported to have hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes. All three were former hunger-strikers who had been force-fed. Suspicions emerge The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that news of the deaths raised skepticism over whether the Saudi men really killed themselves.Saudis allege torture in Guantanamo deaths, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 11, 2006 According to a study led by an attorney for two Guantanamo detainees, and published by the Seton Hall University School of Law's Center for Policy and Research on 7 December 2009 titled "Death in Camp Delta," the government's investigation does not support that these men committed suicide by hanging themselves inside their cells. Mark P. Denbeaux Faculty Profile, Seton Hall University School of Law Contradicting accounts of the deaths Four members of the Military Intelligence unit assigned to guard Camp Delta, including a junior NCO with only one ARCOM who was on duty as the sergeant of the perimeter guard (i.e. not a member of the cellblock guard force) the night of June 9–10, 2006, have presented an account that contradicts the report published by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Their account suggests that the three prisoners who died on June 9, 2006, had been transported to another location prior to their deaths, and indicates that the deaths were either the result of serious negligence in treatment of prisoners under "enhanced interrogation" or that they were tortured so badly that they died. Colonel Michael Bumgarner, the commander of Camp America, said that each of the prisoners had had a ball of cloth in their mouth, either for choking or muffling their voices. The bodies of the three men who died at Guantánamo showed signs of torture, including hemorrhages, needle marks, and significant bruising. The removal of their throats prior or during the autopsy conducted by pathologists affiliated with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology made it difficult to determine whether they were already dead when their bodies were suspended by a noose. The soldiers also say they had been ordered by their commanding officer not to speak out, and all four soldiers provided evidence that authorities initiated a cover-up within hours of the prisoners' deaths. The NCIS seized all written material possessed by the prisoners in Camp America, some 1,065 pounds of material, including privileged attorney-client correspondence. According to its spokeswoman Laura Sweeney, the Department of Justice has disputed certain facts contained in the article about the soldiers' account, which was published by the magazine Harper's. Post-mortems All three of the families of the dead men have challenged the American post-mortems. The families all took steps to have second post-mortems after the bodies were returned to them. Patrice Mangin, who headed the team that volunteered to examine the Al Salami's body, said that it was routine to remove some organs that decay rapidly. Some family members had expressed concerns when the bodies were missing the brain, liver, kidney heart and other organs. Mangin however said that the US authorities had kept Al-Salami's throat, and that his team couldn't state an opinion as to whether he hanged himself until it was returned. Al-Zahrani v. Rumsfeld See also *Guantanamo suicide attempts References External links *US Court Denies Justice to Dead Men at Guantánamo Andy Worthington, October 3, 2010 * Murders at Guantánamo: The Cover-Up Continues Andy Worthington June 9, 2010 * Saudi Gitmo detainees’ death Saudi Gazette July 28, 2010 * Court Closes Door to Families of Wrongfully Detained Men Who Died at Guantánamo Category:Guantanamo Bay detainment camp Category:Prisoners murdered in custody Category:Prisoners who died in United States military detention Category:Extrajudicial prisoners killed while in United States custody Category:United States military scandals